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Big Brother 20 US - Discussion

Kingston

Canadian Royalty
Not sure how many people are going to be watching but I figured I'd start an discussion thread anyways... I don't anticipate needing to separate live feed from episode discussion at this time...

Just a quick reminder that there is no need to fill the thread with spoiler tags... This should be fair warning that once a spoiler has been posted discussion will continue as normal below the originating spoiler tag...
 
Just finished watching the premiere... Found it to be dry in comparison to last season... The twist is basically just a "hi-tech" rehashing of last summer's temptation twist... None of the HG's so far seem that exciting... In fact they seem like a mishmash of the same old stereotypes... The episode didn't really flow well and felt like a bunch of different competitions just thrown together for the sake of it... I'm really not feeling the "silicon valley" theme of the season at all... Last summer had issues but the twists seemed very well planned, executed, and integrated... What I saw tonight feels very cheap and poorly planned... Almost as if they scrapped one idea last minute in favour of another...
 
So this is a live feed thread, if so then not for me. Anyway the premiere wasn't that bad though the group thing with Swaggy having to save one group as he was in it didn't make much sense. It's better if someone has to individually decide to save individuals.
 
Agree the premiere was dry but it was almost saved by the Robot Twist - found that pretty funny by BBUSA standards. They misused the Reprogramming twist though - should have given the winner the power to change things after they'd happened, not just give eight people immunity.

As for the houseguests - actually quite a watchable bunch on first impressions but Swaggy C being proud of coming up with his own nickname pretty much confirms what the C stands for. Still better than calling yourself "Rockstar" though.
 
Agree the premiere was dry but it was almost saved by the Robot Twist - found that pretty funny by BBUSA standards. They misused the Reprogramming twist though - should have given the winner the power to change things after they'd happened, not just give eight people immunity.

As for the houseguests - actually quite a watchable bunch on first impressions but Swaggy C being proud of coming up with his own nickname pretty much confirms what the C stands for. Still better than calling yourself "Rockstar" though.

I wasn’t impressed at all with the robot twist... Especially since the disadvantages were so built up... I found them to be pretty underwhelming... And it seems shady that we don’t know where she’ll be living...

I’m also not a fan of the nicknames... It’s just weird hearing Julie refer to someone as Swaggy...
 
Poor Sam. She spends the first week as a robot, gets knocked out first in the HOH comp, and then can't campaign properly because she's a robot. It must be lonely up in that Motel 6 room in the House.
 
Still waiting for episode 2 to be uploaded to torrents grrr.

But on the first episode...

I think Swaggy missed a golden opportunity to get 8 [people on his side.

In his shoes i would NOT have saved my own group.
I would have saved two other groups.

His choice has given him seven allies but made him safe. My way would have given him 8 and made him unsafe. But i would have talked to my group and said hey, it puts us at risk..but ff we got the other two grpups to agree...we can almost be certain who the first four boot outs will be. They would have held the balance of power for at least a month...but the way swaggy did it only garuntees his people one week.
Arrogant little tosser doesnt think.

Kaitlyn for the win
 
Still waiting for episode 2 to be uploaded to torrents grrr.

But on the first episode...

I think Swaggy missed a golden opportunity to get 8 [people on his side.

In his shoes i would NOT have saved my own group.
I would have saved two other groups.

His choice has given him seven allies but made him safe. My way would have given him 8 and made him unsafe. But i would have talked to my group and said hey, it puts us at risk..but ff we got the other two grpups to agree...we can almost be certain who the first four boot outs will be. They would have held the balance of power for at least a month...but the way swaggy did it only garuntees his people one week.
Arrogant little tosser doesnt think.

Kaitlyn for the win
And you'd almost certainly have been first out with that strategy - really does you few favours in the long term to make that sort of play. Remember too he made that decision hours after moving in, and he's already safe until the 2nd eviction, which is Day 23, so the best part of a month anyway. This way too he is also guaranteed to play in the second HoH comp and have the rare chance of back to back safety.
 
Loathe the Robot twist, badly handled and pretty unfair.


Wasn't surprised at the 3rd ep APP winner....

So far predictable and dull...

Swaggy is a massive tool and hopefully people will realise that
 
Maybe America will give Swaggy the "crap app" next week. In the meantime, Sam won the Bonus Life, but she's playing a rather sneaky game. She wants everybody to think JC has the power.
 
Loathe the Robot twist, badly handled and pretty unfair.


Wasn't surprised at the 3rd ep APP winner....

So far predictable and dull...

Swaggy is a massive tool and hopefully people will realise that

I couldn't agree more... I'm usually skeptical of anyone who cries about twists and producer manipulation but I think this year more than ever it's pretty obvious they are trying to pull strings... I haven't watched the 3rd episode yet and I'm on the fence about whether or not I want to continue... As I said about the premiere I'm finding this series to be rather dry...

I meant to post this earlier... I think Andy @RealityBlurred has a pretty spot on assessment of this years twist... Although I think he missed the mark in his assessment of this years cast... While there are some likeable characters it feels very much like a group Robin Kass would put together... Basically any one of them could be swapped for a similar character in previous series...

Big Brother 20’s premiere: plenty of potential, a few problems

“I’m a fucking robot.” Those four words, spoken by Sam, one of Big Brother 20‘s best characters so far, adequately sum up the BB20 season premiere, which was a mix of utterly absurd, amusingly comical, and frustrating moments.


While the audience was packed with former Big Brother houseguests doing the typical Big Brother audience blank stare and clap, none of them entered the house or the game. Hallelujah!


CBS appears to have finally learned after last season was ruined by their decision to bring Paul back, never mind all the advantages he was given:


  • Julie Chen: “It bit us in the butt last year with Paul [Abrahamian]. He ran that house up until the very end and then he lost it all. It made it predictable and we want it to be a full season of unexpected moments. Paul was running the house last year. We don’t want that again.”
  • Allison Grodner: “Everyone respected Paul [Abrahamian’s] game no doubt, but they were very frustrated with how everyone blindly followed him and couldn’t think for themselves. We’ve got a very different cast in the way the gameplay has already started. It’s much, much different. There isn’t just one leader.” “Listen, we have some really strong players in this house, much stronger than last year.”

With that lesson learned, and with a cast that has some really bright spots (including Sam, robot or not); an abundance of athletic, hopefully competition-oriented people; and some witty editing choices, I’m more optimistic than I have been in a long time.


So let me get this out of the way: Big Brother’s game design and twist choices are structured in a way that gives the production way too much power, and it’s frustrating that they keep coming back to that instead of just letting people play the game.


They didn’t let the big night-one winner, Swaggy C, choose to keep eight people safe, they let him give immunity to two of their pre-selected groups of houseguests.


Also: Why give immunity to half the house for the first eviction? It feels like a clumsy attempt to force alliances.


For the first of the two punishments—these producers and network executives love punishment so much that a 50 Shades of Grey season can’t be far off—producers are choosing when Kaycee has to stay in the room she’s in, and when she can leave. In a game of paranoia where being left out of one conversation can be consequential, that gives them the power to affect her game.


Sam has been punished by having to operate a robot instead of being in the house, so they’re choosing when she can and can’t be physically present. (I’m curious if she’ll be able to go upstairs to the HOH room as a robot.)


While the underlying idea bugs me, Sam is perfect for this; her personality and voice combined with the wonderfully comic animation on the robot’s face are just stupid, in a good way.


And Sam will, thankfully, be switching between her robot self and actually being in the house, which I assume is the production’s way of allowing her to still live in the house, occasionally taking her to a private booth where she can control the robot.


These two punishments will last two weeks, since the first live eviction isn’t until next Thursday, and the houseguests started the game last Wednesday.


Thoughts on the challenges and this season’s theme


Big Brother has upped its challenge game these past few years, both in terms of their spectacular set design and game design. They’ve managed to repeatedly transform the back yard, and design challenges that generally don’t prioritize randomness and unfairness.


I like the night-one idea of splitting the cast and having two different competitions leading into a final competition, but these three competitions were disappointing based on the standard the show has set in previous years.


Also: Why not just make the winner the first HOH? You don’t have to have a day-zero eviction. Let someone get power-drunk with an extended reign.


The two competitions weren’t even remotely similar; one was entirely random (grope around in the dark and hope you get lucky) and the other was building a block tower while being hoisted in the air.


The final competition, Surfing the Web, was the best of the three, from the title’s wordplay to the obstacles being physical manifestations of Big Brother cliches (back doors, chopping blocks).


The set design for all three seemed to be a kind of 1970s idea of what technology would be like way off in the distant future of the 1980s. It’s just on the border between cheesy and cheap.


And it created some whiplash with the house’s decor and Julie Chen’s discussion of the theme.


The house’s interior looks amazing, but does not suggest Silicon Valley or technology in any significant way. Meanwhile, Julie Chen talks about technology (mostly) like they want us to take this seriously: “Technology has taken over the world!” “Prepare yourself for high-tech twists.”


It’s really just a muddled theme, like they couldn’t decide which way to go so they went in all directions at the same time.


They hid a key under a baby


The intro packages for the houseguests were, for Big Brother intros, pretty great, in no small part because the editing condensed and flew past the fake key-finding moments (THEY HID A KEY UNDER A BABY).


It also gave us some depth and actual character development. Plus, as a bonus, there was even self-awareness from a few of them!


I’d virtually written Tyler off, but then he won me over by saying things like, “I’d say my big weakness is my brain” and “I’m just gonna try to play really dumb, which is really easy for me.”


And lines like “my name is Angie but most people call me Rockstar” were followed by “so now I’m a pagan witch,” and that held my interest.


There are a few contestants who were non-starters for me in their intros and then doubled-down on what I didn’t like once they got into the house (Winston, Brett, Scottie, no thanks).


And throughout the first episode, I was bothered by a thread of comments that made women into problems for men, or objects for men: Scottie worrying that “the femme fatales get you killed.” Winston’s metaphor (“darker than any of your ex-girlfriend’s hearts”). Tyler saying he’d “give mouth to mouth to any of these girls” because he’s attracted to them, because trying to save the life of an unconscious person is really about who you want to kiss.


Also, I remain baffled by the strategy of hiding one’s profession. Has someone’s profession ever put a target on their back? Isn’t it the lying about their professions that can cause real problems? Brett doesn’t even know what his fake profession is!


But Steve will definitely be able to pull off concealing that he’s a detective and a college professor, because no one will be able to notice him under that waterfall of sweat that poured off him when he told the group he was a mechanic. At least he’s not the robot, or it would have short-circuited immediately.


https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2018/06/bb20-premiere-recap/
 
Maybe America will give Swaggy the "crap app" next week. In the meantime, Sam won the Bonus Life, but she's playing a rather sneaky game. She wants everybody to think JC has the power.

Considering everyone in the house knows there's a power of course they are going to do everything they can to flush it out... Sam isn't playing "sneaky" she's playing smart and not laying her cards out on the table for everyone to see... Especially since she's playing most of this first week through an avatar...
 
I used to hold out hope, but less and less for BB these days.

Ep 4
Once Sam hinted to taylor about her twist (after Taylor cried to her face previously and said I will never put you up and did anyway) both these lame players and their crap moves make me wonder .. well WTF?

AND The stupid Ham option to a muslim (What IS he eating if he is legit?) makes it even more stupid...

Swaggy (People who give themselves names which arent just an online avatar should rethink life options) and Bailey was a total washout. Taylor sucks as a HOH.

I'll watch the rest but most likely will only catch an ep or so later until BBUK or BBCan comes back.

OR Alex Maxrividiades (wtf spelling?) is orgasming over his love island coup (Channel 9 say it is the future of television because of online users) and can reinstitute BBAus
 
I used to hold out hope, but less and less for BB these days.

Ep 4
Once Sam hinted to taylor about her twist (after Taylor cried to her face previously and said I will never put you up and did anyway) both these lame players and their crap moves make me wonder .. well WTF?

AND The stupid Ham option to a muslim (What IS he eating if he is legit?) makes it even more stupid...

Swaggy (People who give themselves names which arent just an online avatar should rethink life options) and Bailey was a total washout. Taylor sucks as a HOH.

I'll watch the rest but most likely will only catch an ep or so later until BBUK or BBCan comes back.

OR Alex Maxrividiades (wtf spelling?) is orgasming over his love island coup (Channel 9 say it is the future of television because of online users) and can reinstitute BBAus

It’s hard to take anything you’ve said seriously when you can’t even be bothered to get a HG’s name right... It’s Tyler not Taylor...
 
It’s hard to take anything you’ve said seriously when you can’t even be bothered to get a HG’s name right... It’s Tyler not Taylor...

Yep.
Pretty much sums up my meh feelings about this game...Taylor, Tyler, Torah... meh
I'm randomly fast forwarding through the bad game play thus far and Kaitlyn/ kirstin/ karen's wailing after putting Swaggy C (and we all know the .unt which most likely comes after that name?) up was just... woeful.
And "On my dads dead grave"? WTF? Was the grave alive??
Jeez.
 
Well, Sam has a bonus life, and my guess is she's going to use it on one of the Bros because she's a decent person. They might remember this later on.
 
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